


"for we may be apart but our hearts are still tied

by orphan_account



Category: NU'EST
Genre: Disbandment, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 23:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13845201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: 10 short alternate universes for NU'EST members





	"for we may be apart but our hearts are still tied

**Author's Note:**

> read with caution!   
>  post & pre & in between NU'EST eras   
>  mentioned of disbandment & referential homophobia & abuse   
>  never true & will never be true pure imagination skip if you must   
>  it is here because my brain won't shut the fuck up hello   
>  probably more than thousands of impossibilities once again, we live in a universe with many what if's and what could have been's, these are NOT real.

I. Contract

 

Fast forward to 2019, and all the members' hearts are racing so so so fast as they all  
hurdle in the meeting room in Pledis Entertainment company.

 

Today's the contract renewal signing and everyone is having second thoughts.

 

One wants, another waits, the other tiptoes, one is out, and the other goes.

 

In this life time, 2018 is the last anniversary LOVEs celebrated for NU'EST. The fans all but waited with bated breaths as Pledis announces that the members didn't renew their contracts.

 

Everybody weeps.

 

 

II. New York University

 

Aaron Kwak fails the L.A audition and loathes himself after tumbling and mixing some words on the song he's prepared so hard for three months.

 

Pledis doesn't cast him. Instead, he goes and graduates in New York University with flying colors to become a news reporter. His first assignment is about a group that wins through a survival show in Korea and is now taking the world with its popularity, Wannaone.

 

Fucking Korean singers, he mutters with bitterness burning inside his mouth. The irony. The first thing he has to do is to write an article about a group whose dreams he had shared in the  
past. And Aaron Kwak hates it with his every fiber.

 

Because as he looks at the dashing smiles of the eleven people on the photos his editor has sent him, he can't help the longing to stand on a stage, microphone on his one and thousands of fans  
calling out his name.

 

He wants what he'll never have.

So he sings under the shower in his bathroom until his voice gets hoarse.

 

In this life time, Aaron Kwak is a journalist writing articles about celebrities instead.

 

III. Confidence

 

He's gay, people jeer at him. Don't be like him.

 

But Choi Minki gives absolutely 0 fuck at all. He knows what he wants --- who is and is confident about himself. What the public thinks don't matter for him.

 

Not when you are The Choi Minki. The model everyone aspires to be --- everyone's trying to ruin but they can't. Paris, Milan, Tokyo, New York --- he's walked them all.

 

However, once in a while, he remembers a boy getting beaten by his Father with a stick, the other's words stuck to him like a plague Why can't you be just normal? Act like a man from now   
on!

He isn't perfect. Not at all. He sometimes wishes someone can love his flaw even more.

 

There's a knock on his door, his boyfriend's head popping, “Ready, Minki?”

 

For tonight, though, is his own Stage, he shrugs the thoughts to own Seoul runway. He flips   
his long blonde hair as he gets on the stage.

“As ready as I can ever be, Aron hyung.”

Tonight, he's the Top Model Choi Minki.

 

IV. Leader

Kim Jonghyun stops and stares in front of the TV inside Pledis Entertainment building. He stops  
and stares and wonders what went wrong.

 

He is supposed to be part of that group. He is supposed to be the leader of Seventeen, Pledis'  
only boy group. So what the fuck happened?

 

His face is hot as he balls his fists from anger or shame --- he really can't point out.

 

Jonghyun recalls being called in the practice room with 12 other trainees. We're going to debut   
is what his mind chants.

 

Most of the names of the trainees he's been with are called.

 

Save for him.

A pat on his shoulder and Han Sungsoo's face greets his view. I'm sorry, Jonghyun-ah, we don't  
think you're still ready to debut. You're still not enough.

He is, really, Jonghyun thinks he deserves a spot.

 

They just don't see how ready he is.

 

He leaves Pledis Entertainment.

 

V. One More Time

 

“PLEDIS' 5 YEAR OLD BOY GROUP, NUEST DISBANDED”

 

[+ 120, -9] Uh.... who?

[+73, - 9] Hul!

[+10, -0] I'm so sorry Aron, JR, Minhyun, Baekho and Ren. Thank you for healing me.  
I'll support you always.

 

Dongho clears his throat as he looks at the other 100 trainees in Produce 101 studio with all  
the raging murmurs of a failed idol from a disbanded group. He's alone this time. As an individual trainee.

 

MNET evil edits him by trying to look as if he's the scariest person but the public doesn't buy it.

Instead, what the public buys is the goodness underneath his Sexy Bandit image. He helps Lai   
Guan Lin, the Taiwanese trainee his Korean skill (the way he used to teach his Aron hyung when he first came to Seoul). He helps Joo Haknyeon trainee to get the center spot for Open Up  
stage. His princess laughter under his tough exterior is what brings him to the end.

“9th place goes to... Individual trainee, Kang Dongho.”

He debuts in a group named Wannaone. And he is very very very happy. Wannaone is successful and Dongho finds his way back to the Music industry. But at times when he closes   
his eyes, he thinks about the smiles of his old group mates and wishes to undo everything to  
be with them for one more time.

 

VI. Permanent 

Wannaone takes over the world and have everything under their feet. For a year and a half,   
Wannaone enjoys immense popularity that Minhyun has never had pleasure with being in   
NU'EST.

And this gets Hwang Minhyun overjoyed.

That's why when 2019 comes, CJ Entertainment buys out the 11 boys' contracts from their  
previous companies.

Hwang Minhyun agrees. In this lifetime, Hwang Minhyun becomes permanently part of supposedly temporary group.

NU'EST becomes a four-member group.

Hwang Minhyun's home is with Wannaone instead.

 

VII. Priority

 

There's the loudest cheer for NU'EST.

And everyone looks around their fans' faces in Gocheok Sky Dome. This is NU'EST last concert  
together as a group. And it's been nothing but blissful 10 years together as a group. The group  
gets whatever they want because NU'EST is not just a successful group, but humble people.

That's why, NU'EST has become Nation's Group.

But it's time for Jonghyun, Dongho, Minhyun and Minki to serve in the military.

And Aron promises to wait for them after two years.

After they serve, NU'EST regroups, doing both group and individual schedules. Aron becomes a   
mentor and does a lot of variety shows. Jonghyun does variety shows, too. Minhyun and Minki   
both go into acting. Dongho produces more music.

But NU'EST is and will always be still their first priority.

 

VIII. Friendship

In this lifetime, NU'EST members hold their hands tightly as they watch their eldest hyung walk  
away inside the Incheon International Airport. Their faces are marked with eternal sadness that   
would haunt them from the rest of their lives.

NU'EST cannot be saved. Not even after joining Produce 101.

Aron decides to go back to L.A to his family. Minhyun and Dongho stay in Pledis Entertainment  
to become vocal coaches. Minki returns to Busan to have a business.

And Jonghyun?

Jonghyun takes all the blame why NU'EST never made it big. NU'EST failed. He's a failure for  
a leader, he knows it --- accepts it ---and lives with the guilt that comes after.

 

But still, despite of being away from each other. They do not forget to catch up here and there.

Nothing beats the friendship they formed as a group.

 

 

IX. Home

 

“Three... two... one... WELCOME BACK HOME!”

Four various voices echo inside the new apartment.

Minhyun smiles as he sees his four other members with ugly party hats and confettis flying midair. His eyes blur from the tears but he remembers being tackled on the floor.

On his left, Jonghyun is ugly sobbing on his sweater and on his right is Minki making kissy faces the way he used to give the younger before. Dongho, on the other, has his back press on top of him, princess laughter taking over.

And Aron is slumped on the floor with his hand intertwined together on Minhyun's. He looks up  
at his hyung and gives him a smile.

Aron returns the smile ever dashingly as far as he can remember.

Minhyun concludes that home is not a building or a house --- it's four people with different and  
opposing personalities, eight eyes, eight arms, four various laughter and one heart.

And Hwang Minhyun has never been more glad to be home right now.

His home is and will always be Jonghyun, Minki, Dongho, and Aron.

 

X. Wait

 

Right now, Aron thinks they're okay. They're doing well.

Minki is playing with Lucky on the couch, purring himself like a cat. Jonghyun is inside the   
recording booth, charismatically recording his part. Dongho is currently taking up the Producer  
beside Bumzu.

Aron's eyes tear up for a moment.

“Are you crying?” Minki asks in amazement.

Everyone stops. Both Dongho and Bumzu look at him with teasing eyes, Jonghyun gets out from the recording booth, and Minki wraps his arms around his eldest hyung, wiping his tears in  
the process. Dongho and Jonghyun stride forwards Aron and join the hug.

He's happy, and they're doing much better than before.

They're only waiting for Minhyun to come back home.


End file.
